The Graveyard Shift

Chapter One

Taking a stroll through the deserted streets, I felt chills shoot straight through my spine. I advert my eyes to the ground and kick pebbles all over the place. A habit I can never get rid of. The air was thick and evanescent with fog. You see, I always take a nightly walk across town where I can do some thinking. It's the best time at night when everything is closed and no one is around.

Now, you may be thinking, Why would I take a walk at night where I can get raped?

I can't even answer that question myself.

I really do enjoy the light breeze and the fog in the air that adds a little mystery to the town.

I walked around the small, remote town and hum a familiar tune. By the time I've realized it, I'm in front of the town graveyard. A burst of fear churned inside of me and I quickly walk away.

Sure, graveyards are supposed to be creepy and scary, but my experience with this particular one still frightens me till this day.

Let's go back to the past when this all first started.

I moved here when I was 10 years old. For some strange reason, this new town gave a sense of mystery and adventure. So as a 10 year old little girl, I went out to see what this town had in store for me.

I skipped all through town humming and singing random children's songs that would come into my head and finally came across a graveyard. Now, some of you might think it unsafe for a 10 year old girl to walk into a creepy-looking graveyard, but as they all say, curiosity killed the cat.

So I walk in the place and I see thousands of gravestones. I walked around them and read what each of them said about the loved ones that have passed. I felt bad and started to talk to the gravestones. As a little kid, I was just absent-mindedly talking to no one in particular. Until someone spoke back. I was confused as to who was speaking. Finally, when I turned around, I discovered a pale woman looking right back at me. I thought she was someone who was visiting a relative or a friend who passed away so I acted as if nothing was wrong.

It was only until about a few years later when I realized that she was a ghost. I never told anyone about that experience. Not that I had any friends but I never even told my mom. I kept it to myself and have never seen or heard another ghost since. Till this day at 17 years old, I still don't think much of it and am hoping that this will never happen again. It's not everyday you see a ghost. I haven't gone back to the graveyard since. It frightens me to think of something like that happening to me again even if I was only a 10 year old when it happened.

Now adays, I act like the good girl I'm supposed to be and go to school and try and get good grades so that I can get into a good college. I don't have many friends but I can't complain, I suppose. My main goal is to forget about the ghost encounter and live a normal life. As normal as it can get.

After speed-walking past the graveyard, a large black bird is perched on top of a dying, old tree. How strange. This is very peculiar since I have not seen any birds around the graveyard, ever. Disregarding the bird, I finish my rounds around town and walk back to the house.

I look at my watch and it reads 9:52 pm. 8 more minutes before curfew. I quicky run through all of the mathmatical equations needed for tomorrows test so it's fresh in my mind before I go to sleep. I'm glad that tomorrow's Friday, though. One more day and I can relax over the weekend before starting on my weekend homework. I don't dwell too much on that because who likes weekend homework?

I finally get to the corner of my street. I probably have a few minutes left before needing to go to bed so I wait outside my door. Once 10 hits, I walk in to see the lights turned off. I guess Mom is already asleep. I tip-toe upstairs quietly so I don't wake her up. She doesn't need to know I'm back anyways. She'll see me in the morning.

I walked to my room and change into my sleeping wear and get ready for bed. I sigh and shut my eyes awaiting for the next day to arise.

~

The next morning, I woke up and did my daily routine of getting ready. I brushed my teeth, got dressed and grabbed my bag as I ran down the stairs. The scent of coffee filled my nose.

"Mom, are you down here?"

No reply.

I guess she's already left. I sighed and grabbed a bowl to make some cereal. I chewed slowly and before I knew it, I've finished. I put my bow in the sink and grabbed my bag to exit my house. I shut the door and started making my way to school.

When I reached the high school, I waited a few minutes before the bell rang. I hated getting to class early. It just meant that you'd have to sit there and wait God knows how long until the actual lesson started. That doesn't mean that I like being late to class either, though.

First period is always the same. Teacher lectures, you take notes, and then you repeat the whole process.

By lunch time, I tried to avoid the traffic in the hallway and made a beeline to the library. Once I reached the library, Mrs. Elliot, the school librairian smiled at me from her desk.

"Hello, Serenity," She starts with a warm smile, "How are you this Friday?"

I grin and walked straight towards her. "Oh, you know, same as any other day of the week."

She adjusted her glasses and walked over the the bookshelf searching for a book for me to read.

"Here, now. This book should peak your interest," She says as she turns towards me.

I looked at the cover of a book and noticed it was a classic Charles Dicken's book.

I gave her a large grin and took the book from her hands. "Thank you Mrs. Elliot, I'll be over there, then."

I gave her a small wave and walked over to the desk and cracked the book open. As what seemed like only a minute had passed, the bell rang, indicating that lunch was over. I heaved a sigh and placed the book back on the shelf and gave a small thanks to Mrs. Elliot as I walked out the library.

Walking to my next class, I sat and waited for the class to start. Before I knew it, class was over and it was time to go home.

As I walked out of the school grounds, I trudged my way over to my route towards my house. I came home to an empty house and walked upstairs to do my homework.

The clock hits 8:00 pm when I finished my homework.

I shoved my papers and books into my bag and grabbed my keys as I rushed downstairs. I walked out the door and took my walk around town. The light breeze felt wonderful after being in a room for so long.

Grrrrrrrrrr

I jumped as a small shriek escapeed my lips. I looked around to see if I could find anything suspicious looking. What the heck was that?

I didn't see anything so I kept walking.

Grrrrrrrrrr

There it is again! I turned around to see a large dog. Frightened, I began to walk away slowly. To my distaste, it strode over to me with a menacing look on its face.

I tried backing up from it a little faster and it started to run at me. Starting to freak out, I ran too. The dog chased me around town and I huffed and puffed as I sprinted away from the dog.

Frantically, I searched around the area to see if there was anywhere for me to hide. I didn't see anything except the deserted graveyard. With the thought of the scary graveyard and the ghost encounter washing away from my mind, I sprinted inside the graveyard and quicky shut the gates.

I looked around to see myself surrounded by thousands of gravestones.

Perfect. Now what am I supposed to do?

~

Hey guys! So I've written a new story and I hope you guys will give it a chance. Please don't forget to vote and comment. I really do appreciate it. Let me know what you guys think. I love and appreciate feedback (:

Please FOLLOW, COMMENT, AND VOTE!!

Serenity is on the side by the way.

Enjoy reading and hope you guys stick around in the long run!!

Until next time!!

~Regina